I had some friends ask me what steampunk was a few weeks ago, and it got me really excited because Yay! I love steampunk. (If I were ever to cosplay, it would be something steampunkish. And once I get my own home, it’s going to be somewhat steampunkishly decorated.) But it also got me wondering how many people may not know what steampunk is. So, here’s a general overview and links to where you can learn a lot more.

Basically, steampunk is rather alternate realityish. I like to think of it like this: it’s what would happen if, instead of the Industrial Revolution happening, things remained very much steam and gear powered. It’s used a lot in fantasy, but it doesn’t necessarily equal magic, as some may think.

Steampunk as fashion
Oh, goodness! It’s typically Victorian looking, but not always. With little accents that are gear-related, machinery-related, or whatnot. Cameos, goggles, pocket watches all make appearances. I’ve seen gothic elements included as well at times – skeletons, bats, etc. Check out Etsy for some awesome steampunk fashion stuffs.

Steampunk as home decorating
It’s old (sometimes scientific) stuff meshed with contemporary items. Clockwork and gears, antique furniture, Victorian prints, natural science stuff, etc etc.

I love the blog The Steampunk Home. It has some really awesome stuff on home decor that is very fun and rather inspiring. I stumbled upon this blog when it posted about Holly Black’s Hidden Library. It includes a lot of reader supplied images, images of stuff designers have done, among random product posts.

Steampunk in books
There are two sorts of categories I would include here – new books that are based on an alternate reality, and classics that developed a future that they believed would happen based on the science they knew.

Contemporary steampunk books that I’ve loved and would recommend: Tracy Lynn’s Snow, Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics, Catherine Webb’s Horatio Lyle books, D.M. Cornish’s Monster Blood Tattoo and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. These are all mainly YA/children’s books, which means I’m missing a lot of awesome adult books that are out there, but these are my favourites that I’ve read.

Older books that I would include are, as I said, books that were written anticipating a science that never happened. These ones would include Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

There are also a lot of books coming out that are in this genre that I cannot wait to read. Arthur Slade’s new book looks very awesome. And Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices, too! Oh, it should be awesome. I cannot wait to see what else will be appearing.

Steampunk in media
There’s a lot of elements of steampunk in movies these days, especially the more fantasy-ish movies. Some of the most notable for me are Stardust, The Golden Compass (did not enjoy the story of this movie, MUCH preferred the book, but the steampunk elements were AWESOME) and A Series of Unfortunate Events. As far as anime goes, Howl’s Moving Castle is a bit steampunkish, as is Fullmetal Alchemist (haven’t read the manga, but I assume it would be too). I know there are television shows that are a bit steampunkish, but I don’t watch any of them, so don’t really know what they are.

Other interesting notes and links
I think it was Nymeth who tweeted a link to an awesome article on Steampunk last week: Steampunk: What it is, why I came to like it, and why I think it’ll stick around. This article is DEFINITELY worth a read.

I get a lot of my steampunk news in media from io9. Regularly a scifi website, they do include some steampunk books, artwork, movies, fashion, etc etc. The blog at Brass Goggles is one that I’ve recently discovered and it has a lot of awesome stuff going on there too.

So, I hope that helps a bit for those who were curious. For those already introduced into the genre, am I missing anything important??